Joy fights for all the stolen children
By Bernie Brian
WOLLONGONG - In 1991 Joy Williams (her Aboriginal name is Janaka Wiradjuri)
published a collection of poems in the book Blackberry's Child. In one of
her poems, Joy writes of the inspiration she gained from the poems of the
late Oodgeroo Noonuccal (Kath Walker).
In that poem Joy cries out, ``I've been stolen for too long''. For Joy is
one of at least 5000 of her generation alone that were denied the
opportunity to have a happy childhood because the misnamed Aboriginal
Welfare Board abducted them from their mothers' arms soon after birth.
Joy's 18-year-old mother, a stolen child from the previous generation, was
also given a hysterectomy by the doctors at Crown Street Women's Hospital,
without her consent, soon after Joy's birth in 1942.
While Joy's mother was allowed to visit her daughter at Bomaderry Children's
Home, these visits ceased when Joy was moved, at the age of five, to Lutanda
Children's Home at Wentworth Falls. It was felt by the AWB that, because of
Joy's fair skin, she should be ``protected'' from further Aboriginal
influences. Joy was not to discover her Aboriginality till she was 13 and
was not reunited with her mother till she was 31.
Joy had lost not only her mother and her mother's culture, she was even
denied her name at Lutanda, being addressed as ``Number 4''. She could not
understand why she was treated differently. She began to superficially cut
her arms to see if she really did have ``mud in her veins'', as the staff
were suggesting. She remembers being ashamed when she discovered her
Aboriginality. She also suffered numerous beatings at the hands of Lutanda
staff, on one occasion fracturing her wrist and collar bone.
Such a childhood would have left a mark on anyone, and Joy is no exception.
For much of her adult life she has battled loneliness, violence, drug
dependency and psychiatric illness. On leaving Lutanda, she also ran foul of
the law because she often committed the heinous crime of homelessness. Joy
has had three children of her own and history repeated itself when her elder
child, Julie Ann, was stolen from her. Joy experienced first hand the
devastation that her mother felt at losing her first child.
Joy has refuses to become one more victim of the racist practices of white
Australian governments and is fighting back. In the late '80s she began the
process of suing the NSW government for damages as a result of the actions
of the AWB.
Joy told Green Left Weekly, ``The idea began to form in my mind that, for
god's sake, the white Australian government had done something very wrong,
that not only included me but thousands of others.
``I was then involved with the organisation Link-Up that tries to reunite
Aboriginal families, and I was seeing all these broken people around me. I
felt then that it had to stop and everybody, both black and white, had to
know what had happened. While this practice ended in 1967, it still takes
place today through children's courts. Go to the majority of juvenile
detention centres, and you will find a very high number of Koori kids,
mostly convicted of crimes of poverty.''
Joy is charging the state with neglect, lack of due care, kidnapping,
assault, cultural deprivation and maternal deprivation.
Unfortunately, several weeks ago Joy lost round one of her case when Justice
Studdert of the Supreme Court recognised that Joy had suffered ill-treatment
but felt that the government would be at a disadvantage in fighting the case
because of the time that had lapsed since the events. The state claims it
has not got the appropriate records of Joy and potential witnesses are
either too old or dead. Joy is confident the appropriate records and
witnesses will be available and has filed an appeal.
In a rather curious excusing of the AWB, Studdert also said that while we
may find the policies of the AWB objectionable today, the ``policies of the
Board ... were expressed as being directed to the betterment and welfare of
Aboriginal people and it is reasonable inference that the Board believed in
those policies and considered that they were soundly based''. He goes on to
state that there is no evidence to suggest that the AWB was aware of Joy's
ill-treatment.
Joy told Green Left Weekly that she was ``sick of hearing that. They do it
with racist books that are still being used. People say, at the time they
thought they were doing the right thing. I don't think time is any excuse
for racism.''
The case is very important because, if successful, it may open the way for
thousands of other stolen children to sue for damages and finally get some
justice. This scenario has also occurred to the state government, and there
is some talk of special legislation to block further legal action over the
AWB's actions.
Joy was angered by Studdert's findings. She often feels that she is very
much alone as she battles the power of the state government. She would like
to see more activity in support of the case. Joy is currently a doing a
master of education degree at Wollongong University and often doesn't even
have the money to take the train to Sydney for appointments related to the
case.
It's hard not to be inspired by Joy's strength and determination to force
the NSW government to accept responsibility for crimes committed on its
behalf. In another of her poems she writes: ``I could have sat on The fence
for years and Forgotten about being black But, no, I wouldn't compromise - I
couldn't pay the price - My Life, my soul - My heritage!''